Every company tries to get you hooked on their new products by offering free trials, free products, and anything else free you might need to get started. However, this isn’t always the best thing ever. In fact, free is often not free at all. That is something many Windows Phone users might quickly discover with 20 GB free cloud storage. Is it really free at all?

Offer from Microsoft for free storage

Every Windows Phone user is going to get a huge bonus with their phone: 20 GB free cloud storage. According to Venture Beat, though, the news isn’t all that great. You only get the free 20 GB of storage for a year, and anything that goes unused will be taken away at that time. Those who actually use that much storage will quickly start paying a fee to keep all their stuff on the cloud. In the end, it might actually be good for Microsoft to give a little if it ends up getting a bunch back in return, something businesses often do. The payoff is a year away, so who knows how well the marketing strategy will really work.

For all the customers

The best part of this plan is that it is for everyone. Often, companies offering bonuses or extra add ons at a discounted price will only offer it to new customers, meaning those who have actually stuck around and been loyal don’t get any kind of reward. Instead, this offer extends to all current Windows Phone users and all new ones before January. It is not only a scheme to get more customers but also a way to reward old customers and get them interested in new products.

Not really free

The problem with offering “free” stuff is that it is never free. Someone always has to pay something for it. For example, if you are getting a free Coke, either someone else bought it for you or Coke is soaking up the costs. Essentially, it was never free. Companies like to offer “free” stuff and then make up for the cost by increasing the price of everything else or including the cost in what you are already buying somehow. For example, you might buy a car that comes with a free cruise, but really the cost of the cruise has already been built into the price of the car. Most people would just prefer to get the car at a lower price than also get a cruise with it.

Windows Phone cloud storage isn’t free either. Yeah, maybe Microsoft is offering it current customers too, but that money has to come from somewhere. Maybe the real secret is that they want you to get used to the storage just to lose it all and have to pay for it to get it back. Somewhere along the way, you will end up paying for it, and it will not come free. Keep that in mind as you buy your Windows Phone or any other smartphone offering free features.